


Fireworks

by Dach



Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Genre: Background Usnavi/Vanessa, Fear, Fireworks, Fluff, M/M, The Club, Vandalism, a lot of swearing, blackout - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 06:47:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11248494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dach/pseuds/Dach
Summary: Sonny had done it so many other times. It was a regular event: wait behind the club for Pete, walk around Washington Heights with him, sneak back in before Usnavi noticed his absence. Of course, this time, there justhadto be a blackout.Thank god for Graffiti Pete.





	Fireworks

A clattering noise sounded as a rock skittered across pavement. One could hear the music and drunken cheering from behind the club, as Sonny had found; the sound had long since settled into a throbbing lull for him. The boy kicked another rock idly, watching it bounce into the orange glow light of the streetlamp just outside of the alley. Many such streetlamps lined the neighborhood, their dim luminance seeming almost hazy in the late hours of night such as these. From inside of Sonny’s pocket, his phone buzzed. The teen withdrew it and was met with the blue glow of his lock-screen. He unlocked the device and read the message.

 

 **  
_Pete:_ ** _Yo u need to get your cousin under control_

 

Sonny’s eyebrows drew together in confusion.

 

 **  
_Sonny:_ ** _Wha’d he do?_

 

He didn’t have to wait long for a reply.

 

 **  
_Pete:_ ** _??? The dude fucking pantsed me!!!!_

 

Sonny snorted in amusement despite himself.

 

 **  
_Sonny:_ ** _U serious?_

 **  
_Pete:_** _serious as shit_

 

The phone buzzed again before Sonny could reply.

 

 **  
_Pete:_ ** _I was dancing_

 **  
_Pete:_ ** _dude mayb a little drunk_

 **  
_Pete:_ ** _I think his girl ditched him tbh_

 

Sonny was, admittedly, quite confused. That didn’t seem like a Vanessa thing to do.

 

 **  
_Sonny:_ ** _U sure? Vanessa, right?_

 **  
_Pete:_ ** _She the one in the dress?_

 

Sonny rolled his eyes.

 

 **  
_Sonny:_ ** _Not descriptive enough_

 

There was a hiatus. Then his phone buzzed again.

 

 **  
_Pete:_ ** _red dress, maybe 5’ 8’’, black heels, black hair, alcoholic mother_

 

Sonny groaned out loud. If Pete was right Usnavi would be moping for all of the week to come.

 

 **  
_Sonny:_ ** _Okay A: you goddamn stalker_

 **  
_Sonny:_ ** _And B: yeah, that’s her_

 **  
_Sonny:_ ** _She really ditch him?_

 

There was a slight pause before Pete replied.

 

 **  
_Pete:_ ** _Idk, actually. I think he tried to make her jealous._

 

Sonny groaned in frustration at his cousin.

 

 **  
_Sonny:_ ** _Sorry u had to witness that_

 **  
_Pete:_ ** _lol_

 

Sonny waited for the next message but it never came; his phone screen turned off due to inactivity and he pocketed the device. He went back to his game of kicking rocks. After a rock hit the back entrance one too many times, a hulking bouncer opened the door, shooting Sonny a glare. The teen had to stop himself from stepping back and possibly fleeing. The teen was supposed to wait for Pete, after all. But in all fairness, the dude was intimidating as hell.

“Hey, man,” Sonny held up his hands in a universal ‘don’t hurt me’ gesture. “I’m off the premises.” He probably wasn’t but the bouncer just rolled his eyes and retreated, allowing the door to slam shut behind him. Sonny waited a couple moments before taking a particularly vicious kick at the rock that had smacked the door. The stone flew into the street, clattering off into the darkness. Sonny glared balefully after it. His phone buzzed again.

 

 **  
_Pete:_ ** _o shit Rosario’s dispatch kid fking decked a guy_

 

As if on cue, the noise emanating from the club increased, though it was mostly yelling now.

 

 **  
_Pete:_ ** _c u ina sec_

 

The back door flew open to admit a very annoyed-looking Pete. Sonny just managed to catch the tail-end of the bouncer’s protest before they were plunged into absolute, confusing darkness. Not even the sometimes-annoying yellow luminescence of the streetlamps shone. Aside from Sonny’s phone- which was still lit up from Pete’s message- and the cloud-covered moon, there was no light.

“ _Shit,_ ” said Pete’s disembodied voice. Yells floated through the walls of the club and into the alley, while up the street, the sounds of opening doors could be heard. Pete grabbed Sonny’s phone.

“Dude!” Sonny protested. The graffiti artist ignored him, fumbling with the buttons until a powerful beam lit up the the camera-area on the back of the phone. With the light, Sonny could see Pete and his backpack, the sight of which offered much-desired succor.

“Impromptu flashlight,” Pete declared, sounding a little relieved himself.

“Great.”

From behind the door, the two could hear as the bouncer began arguing with the masses of clubbers no doubt wanting out. Sonny jumped as he felt Pete grab his wrist, trying to lead him towards the street.

“C’mon!” Pete hissed, the whites of his eyes glinting as they caught some of the light from the crude flashlight. “This place’ll be flooded with drunks in a couple of seconds!”

Sonny yanked on the artist’s hand in protest. “What about Usnav-”

“Usnavi can handle himself!” Pete argued, urgent. “We gotta go! Jesus Christ, Sonny! You should know! This isn’t a time to be outside!”

Sonny swallowed the lump in his throat. Usnavi had Benny. He’d be good. And he’d kill Sonny all over again if Sonny was killed. “Fine.”

“ _Thank_ you!” Pete led Sonny towards the mouth of the alley, only just avoiding tripping over a stay milk carton. Outside, hooded figures had already entered the streets. One carried a baseball bat. Others carried what appeared to be guns. Sonny felt his heart plunge into his gut. “Here,” Pete thrust the phone into Sonny’s left hand, grasping the other hand with one of his own. “We’re gonna run.”

Sonny nodded in agreement, his head pounding and his mouth dry.

“Right to the bodega, okay? We’ll close the grate. If the grate’s still broken, we go to my apartment, cool?”

Sonny nodded again.

“Right. Go!”

Pete lunged forward, dragging Sonny with him. The instant his feet smacked the pavement, Sonny started sprinting, his blood throbbing in his temples as if in tandem to each step. He was uncoordinated in the dark- the constant flashing of his phone-light wasn’t helping anything- but Pete’s hand kept him upright and so Sonny kept his legs moving. He kept pushing faster faster _faster_ -

“Hey!” Pete had stopped moving but hadn’t relinquished Sonny’s hand, nearly yanking the younger teen off of his feet. Sonny panted slightly, looking over and shining his phone-flashlight on the graffiti artist.

“Yeah?”

“Catch your breath.” Pete released the other’s hand and cast furtive glances around him; Sonny realized that they had arrived at the bodega.

‘ _That was fast.’_ The ladies at the salon certainly weren’t keeping watch over the shop anymore; they had disappeared. Pete stepped over to the grate, yanking on it. Sonny’s heart stopped. The grate didn’t move. Pete yanked on it even harder. “Shit.”

Sonny jumped, grabbing the lip of the grate and dangling from it before dropping ungainly to the ground. “ _Shit_ ,” Sonny echoed. Pete grabbed Sonny’s hand again, making as if to run.

“My apartment-”

“Whoa!” Sonny yanked his hand out of Pete’s. “Hold on, man!”

“What?!”

“I can’t leave the bodega! It’d be raided!”

Pete stared at him in apparent frustration. “Are you  _fucking_ kidding me right now!? We agreed-”

“Pete!” Sonny cried, motioning to the shelves. “You know there’ll be nothing left if we go!”

“There won’t _be_ a store and if you don’t get going,” Pete argued, “you won’t exist either.”

Sonny darted forward, reaching under the counter and fumbling in the dark for the baseball bat he knew Usnavi kept there. He felt nothing and lifted his phone, sweeping the beam of light around the shop until he spotted the bat on the rack in the back. “Here!” Sonny exclaimed, rushing forwards to heft it up. “See?”

Pete squinted through the dark and seemed to concede slightly. “Fine. I’ve got something too. You got a light?”

A little confused but still mostly scared, Sonny tossed Pete one of the cigarette lighters from the stand on the counter. Pete flicked it a few times.

“HEY!” someone up on the street yelled. Pete cursed loudly.

“Back up,” Pete cautioned. Sonny stumbled back and watched as Pete slid his backpack off of his shoulder, withdrawing what appeared to be a cardboard cylinder. “Back up!”

Pete touched the flame of the cigarette lighter to the end of the cardboard tube and it flamed. Sonny realized what it was and ducked behind the counter. The roman candle began spitting orange sparks and Pete ran into the street; he would have been obscured by the darkness had not the glow of the firework silhouetted his face. Someone yelled at Pete. The sparks died down and then a ball of red erupted, tearing into the sky and lighting the entire alley as it appeared to explode with a loud ‘BANG’. Several people outside cursed loudly.

“ _Whoa_ ,” Sonny marveled. The younger teen watched with an open mouth as more and more light erupted. Pete whooped and Sonny laughed. With a start, Sonny remembered the spider fireworks Usnavi had refused to use last summer due to rain. He scrambled to his feet and opened the cash register, ignoring the ding and sifting through the leftover coins to withdraw the key to the supply closet in the back of the bodega. With the aid the light from the roman candles and the beam from his phone, he managed to shove the key into the lock, turning it and opening the door. A mop fell over but Sonny pushed it aside, revealed the cardboard of the box.

“Pete!”

The graffiti artist looked over, his eyes widening. “You think it’s okay for us to use that shit!?”

“S’all legal,” Sonny assured him, lugging the box towards the front of the shop. “And the bodega’s more expensive anyway.” With a final push, the box was in the street.

“Ready?” Pete asked, grabbing one of the many packages within.

“Hell yeah,” Sonny grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  Me: *has two fics still in progress and a oneshot I need to write soon*  
> Me: Hey, let's start a new fic for a different fandom!  
>   
> Please leave a comment! My soul feeds off of them!  
>   
> My tumblr is [erudammit](http://www.erudammit.tumblr.com)


End file.
